Statement from Mayor, City Council President, City of Rochester regarding legal filing by the U.S. Department of Justice

Although we have not yet been served, the City obtained a copy of yesterday’s DOJ complaint from the federal filing system. On its face, the complaint is an exercise in political theater, not legal practice. 

The City’s Sanctuary City policy is legally sound and always has been, including during the entirety of the Trump Administration’s first term. The City fully intends to defend the legality of its policies, and to use this opportunity to hold the federal government to task and ensure that it does not commandeer local resources in violation of the Constitution’s Tenth Amendment. 

The City of Rochester is committed to investing its resources in public safety for all, not doing the federal government’s work of immigration enforcement.